Templates
- Simulacrum$229
- 7 types
- ShipFast$199
- SaaS only
- Supastarter$349
- SaaS only
- MakerKit$299
- SaaS only
Compare
Every option. Real prices. No guesswork. See why 30+ alternatives cost more and deliver less.
| Name | Price | Year 1 cost | 3-year cost | Owns code | Custom backend | No vendor lock | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simulacrum (Solo) | $229 one-time | $229 | $229 | 7 templates, 4 DB adapters, admin dashboards, RBAC, i18n, Playwright, dark mode | |||
| Boilerplate / Starter Kits | |||||||
| ShipFast | $199 one-time | $199 | $199 | SaaS only. MongoDB or Supabase. No RBAC, no i18n, no admin dashboard, no tests. | |||
| Supastarter | $349-$1,499 one-time | $349-$1,499 | $349-$1,499 | SaaS only. Feature-rich but single template type. Next.js or Nuxt. | |||
| MakerKit | $299-$649 one-time | $299-$649 | $299-$649 | SaaS only. Next.js or Remix. Supabase Auth or Firebase (platform lock). | |||
| Website Builders | |||||||
| Wix Light | $17/mo | $204 | $612 | No ecommerce. 2GB storage. Wix branding on free plan. | |||
| Wix Core (ecommerce) | $29/mo | $348 | $1,044 | 50GB storage. Basic ecommerce. 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on top. | |||
| Wix Business | $39/mo | $468 | $1,404 | Automated sales tax. Advanced shipping. 100GB storage. | |||
| Wix Business Elite | $159/mo | $1,908 | $5,724 | Unlimited storage. Priority support. Still no code ownership. | |||
| Squarespace Basic | $16/mo | $192 | $576 | No ecommerce. No custom code. Beautiful templates but locked in. | |||
| Squarespace Core | $23/mo | $276 | $828 | Ecommerce unlocked. 0% transaction fees. Still no code export. | |||
| Squarespace Plus | $39/mo | $468 | $1,404 | Lower processing fees. Advanced analytics. Still vendor-locked. | |||
| Squarespace Advanced | $99/mo | $1,188 | $3,564 | Lowest transaction fees. Advanced commerce. Still no code ownership. | |||
| Webflow Basic | $14/mo | $168 | $504 | No CMS. No ecommerce. Just static hosting. Can export HTML/CSS. | |||
| Webflow CMS | $23/mo | $276 | $828 | Blog/dynamic content. 2K CMS items. No backend logic. | |||
| Webflow Business | $39/mo | $468 | $1,404 | 10K CMS items. 1M visits/mo. Custom code embeds. Still no real backend. | |||
| Webflow Ecommerce | $29-$212/mo | $348-$2,544 | $1,044-$7,632 | 2% transaction fee on all sales. Limited inventory management. | |||
| GoDaddy Website Builder | $10-$22/mo | $120-$264 | $360-$792 | Basic builder. Very limited customization. No code access. | |||
| Hostinger Website Builder | $3-$10/mo | $36-$120 | $108-$360 | Cheapest option. AI-powered. Very basic. No advanced features. | |||
| Weebly (by Square) | $0-$26/mo | $0-$312 | $0-$936 | Free plan available. Being sunset in favor of Square Online. Limited future. | |||
| Framer | $5-$30/mo | $60-$360 | $180-$1,080 | Design-focused. Beautiful animations. No backend, no auth, no database. | |||
| Carrd | $9-$49/yr | $9-$49 | $27-$147 | Single-page sites only. No blog, no ecommerce, no CMS. | |||
| Ecommerce Platforms | |||||||
| Shopify Basic | $39/mo | $468 | $1,404 | Ecommerce-first. Transaction fees if not using Shopify Payments. App costs extra. | |||
| Shopify Standard | $105/mo | $1,260 | $3,780 | Professional reports. Lower transaction fees. Apps still cost $20-200/mo extra. | |||
| Shopify Advanced | $399/mo | $4,788 | $14,364 | Custom reports. Lowest fees. Enterprise pricing starts at $2,000+/mo. | |||
| BigCommerce Standard | $39/mo | $468 | $1,404 | No transaction fees. Limited to $50K/yr in sales before forced upgrade. | |||
| Hire a Developer | |||||||
| Freelance developer | $75-$200/hr | $2,000-$50,000 | $5,000-$60,000+ | Full custom build. Timeline: 1-6 months. Quality varies. Need to manage them. | |||
| Offshore development team | $25-$75/hr | $1,500-$25,000 | $3,000-$30,000+ | 40-60% cheaper than US rates. Communication overhead. Timezone challenges. | |||
| Fiverr / Upwork freelancer | $15-$100/hr | $500-$15,000 | $1,500-$20,000+ | Median Upwork rate: $30/hr. Quality varies widely. Platform fees on top. | |||
| Agencies | |||||||
| Web development agency | $100-$250/hr | $5,000-$100,000+ | $15,000-$120,000+ | Avg project on Clutch: $66,499. Professional result but expensive. 3-6 month timeline. | |||
| Open Source / DIY | |||||||
| WordPress.org + Hosting | $5-$50/mo hosting | $260-$1,100 | $780-$3,300 | Free CMS but requires plugins ($100-500/yr), security maintenance, developer time. Theme $50-200. | |||
| DIY with free tools | $0 (your time) | $0 + 200-500hrs | $0 + ongoing maintenance | Free but costs 200-500 hours of your time. At $75/hr = $15,000-$37,500 opportunity cost. | |||
| Next.js SaaS Starter (free) | $0 | $0 + setup time | $0 + maintenance | Free but minimal. No admin, no i18n, no tests, no templates beyond basic SaaS. | |||
| T3 Stack (free) | $0 | $0 + setup time | $0 + maintenance | Scaffolding only. No auth, no payments, no admin, no templates. You build everything. | |||
Same category, different scope. Simulacrum ships 7 template types where competitors ship 1.
Feature | Simulacrum$229 | ShipFast$199 | Supastarter$349 | MakerKit$299 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Templates | 7 types | SaaS only | SaaS only | SaaS only |
| Database options | 4 (Supabase, Drizzle, Prisma, PostgreSQL) | 2 (MongoDB, Supabase) | 2 (Prisma, Drizzle) | 3 (Supabase, Drizzle, Prisma) |
| Auth | better-auth (OAuth, magic link, 2FA) | NextAuth | better-auth | Supabase Auth |
| RBAC | Template-specific roles | None | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-tenancy | Startup tier | None | Yes | Yes |
| i18n | 8 languages + RTL | None | Yes (4 languages) | Yes |
| Admin dashboards | Template-specific | None | Generic | User impersonation |
| E2E tests | Playwright (all templates) | None | None | Playwright |
| Dark mode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Delivery | CLI (npx) | Git clone | Git clone + CLI | Git clone + CLI |
| Payment providers | Stripe, Lemon Squeezy | Stripe, Lemon Squeezy | 5 providers | 3 providers |
| Price (Solo equivalent) | $229 | $199-$299 | $349 | $299 |
| AI features | Vercel AI SDK + RAG | None | Vercel AI SDK | None |
| File storage | S3 / R2 / Supabase | None | S3-compatible | Supabase Storage |
| Email templates | React Email + Resend | Resend | React Email + 4 providers | React Email |
| Background tasks | trigger.dev / QStash | None | trigger.dev / QStash / BullMQ | None |
| Analytics | Plausible / GA / PostHog | None | 8+ providers | None |
| Monitoring | Sentry | None | Sentry | None |
| WCAG 2.1 compliance | Yes (AA) | No | No | No |
| Industry variants | Yes (tech, photo, design, music, writing) | No | No | No |
| Help desk integrations | Jira / Zendesk / HubSpot / Intercom (Agency) | No | No | No |
| Social config file | One file populates all links | Manual per component | Manual per component | Manual per component |
| Deployment guides | Vercel, Docker, Railway | Vercel | Vercel, Docker, Railway, Fly, Coolify | Vercel, Docker |
Join builders who treat scaffolding as infrastructure. Pick a tier, activate your license, and let Simulacrum carry the boring parts -- so your roadmap shows product milestones, not integration spikes.